Category: fitness

I’ve talked recently about how I’m adopting a new approach to my health, fitness and weight loss this year. This has included working for a two month period with a personal trainer to understand the best fitness and nutrition approach for me. One of the things I highlighted to my PT was how I would like to increase my metabolic rate, as it’s been very low the past few years and lead to me easily gaining weight and feeling tired and sluggish. While I’m doing what I can in the gym to achieve this, throwing in lots of resistance work, the other area that needed addressing was nutrition, which is where carb cycling comes in.

I’ve always wanted to train with a personal trainer. Someone who can really push my fitness, and give me advice that is specific to me on nutrition. But it seemed such a luxury. They don’t come cheap, and I always thought the guilt would be too much spending the money on myself. But when I totted up my birthday money from last week, I realised I could buy myself something I’d always really wanted. That wouldn’t gather dust (hello bread maker!). Or that wouldn’t end up just being spent on a food shop! So, I’ve signed up for two months with a personal trainer!

Just like most people, I have a never ending list of things I’d like to do more of / less of / better, etc.! And it seems this year, I’ve finally started ticking some of those things off the list. Now we’re half way through February, it feels like they are no longer just new year fads, but things I have added to my routine. New habits that I plan to keep up. They’ve all definitely had a positive impact and I thought I’d share them with you to maybe inspire you to do the same.

Ok, so the title is a little misleading. I kind of have and kind of haven’t stopped eating sugar. But I have made some big changes, and I thought I’d tell you about them!

I’ve always liked setting myself little challenges. I love the idea of a monthly challenge, and have done them in the past. But, have lagged a bit recently with ‘challenge Sam’!! I noticed that I was slowly eating more and more sugar. I was craving it. I don’t get enough sleep, work hard, exercise, mother, and all that, and I just felt exhausted all the time and was reaching for the easiest thing to give me a boost – sugar!

I’ve always been a morning person. Even if I have the opportunity to lie in, I tend to struggle to. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t often spring out of bed, singing along with the birds. I still have to drag myself up most mornings, especially if I’ve been up to the girls in the night (haha, ‘IF I’ve been up’!! There hasn’t been a night in a long time that I haven’t got up to one or both!!). But I find I’m better first thing, and tiredness creeps in as the day goes on.

I’m not really a one for ‘resolutions’ as such. But I do love the opportunity that a new year represents. A chance to maybe do things a little differently, or continue with things that have worked well in the previous year. It gives us chance to reflect on our lives and highlight areas that, in improving, might make us more content.

I think that is what my goals for this year are focused on – contentment. I have never really suffered with anxiety before the last year, and it is horrible! I want to shake it, and feel content and peaceful. I know it’s a big ask, but if I can start to make little steps towards that, then that’s better than nothing.

Exercise has always been important to me. And it’s something that I really missed in both my pregnancies. Looking back now, I really wish I had made more of an effort to exercise through them. I’ve been ‘running’ for about the past 11 years, but didn’t manage to run for very far in to either pregnancy. I also go to regular bootcamp type sessions and enjoy doing home workout DVDs. But I just found these all a bit too intense when pregnant and exhausted!

It’s five months since I gave birth to Sienna. Wow, have those five months flown! Time seemed much slower when Ella was a baby, I guess because I only had the one to focus on and we had lovely blissful days of not doing much at all! It’s much different with the second baby, with Ella’s presence definitely not allowing for quiet chilled days!

Straight after having Ella, I was about 7lb heavier than I was before getting pregnant. It did take me 9 months to lose that 7lb, but I toned up pretty quickly too. People thought I had lost much more weight than I had, as I was doing a lot of exercise and was not in too bad shape.